Page 76 of Royal Captive
The only thing I could think of was that it had something to do with the old wives’ tale that was told back in our realm: that once you ate food from the fae, you became trapped in their realm forever.
It was ludicrous. And was a moot point, anyway. Eve had to have eaten many times since we arrived, and confirmed it when I asked her. She ate at the welcoming picnic the same as I had,after all. Hadn’t she? I tried to stretch my memory back, and couldn’t recall a clear memory of her eating.
I shook my head.
I would not starve her! Regardless, I didn’t have any power or control over anyone’s food as a prisoner myself. Hayida was a crazy old man who’d been stuck here too long and clearly gone senile—why else would the guards have to use their combined magicks to knock him out? I didn’t miss the similarities between him and Fennis, nor how he’d hinted at being a political prisoner. All the signs pointed to him being a disposed royal of Fennis’s court; someone who’d displeased those in power.
I wasn’t sure how long I lay there, gently stroking Eve’s arm and cheek before the pink sun’s rays drifted down the hallway. The cold air eased into a warmer temperature, and the goosebumps all over Eve’s skin eventually went away.
I’d go toe-to-toe with Strumo if it meant getting a blanket for her.
A blast of an instrument exploded down the hallway, startling me badly. Eve jerked as well, eyes screwed shut tightly as she groaned and rolled over.
The loud, horrid sound that was somewhere between a toad and a dying horse exploded again in the air, and Eve’s eyes shot open.
“Morning sunshine,” I managed, hoping my attempt at a smile didn’t look too much like a grimace. “How—”
Eve winced and covered her ears as the noise kept going, this time accompanied by shouts and yells of other prisoners.
I got to my feet and helped Eve up, both of us trying to stretch out the kinks in our backs.
Our doors slammed open on their own, and tentatively we each walked to our respective entrances. Peeking my head out, prisoners lined the hallway, already forming the same line as last night.
“Let’s go! Line up!” barked a guard, but even as I stepped into line, he grabbed Eve by her upper arm and yanked her backward. “Not you! You stay.”
He shoved her back into her cell so hard she stumbled, tripping over the hem of her dress and falling to the ground.
Heat flooded my fingertips, my hands smoking before I could control it. A group of guards were on me in moments, the cuff on my wrist burning a blistering trail into my skin. Nerves and tendons were already charred to a crisp underneath my cuffs from the damage I’d done yesterday.
I smirked. Nothing to lose. Just how I preferred it.
“Don’t touch her like that,” I growled to the guards, the light from their staves bathing their faces in an amethyst glow.
One guard grabbed my hair and yanked hard on it, forcing me to meet his eyes. “I heard everyone touched her however they wanted. Didn’t she come from a pleasure house?”
I took all of my anger and frustration and gathered it inward. Not just the helplessness I felt being here with Eve, but every time my parents had made me feel less than because of abilities and magick that no one understood. I took every bit of self-loathing I felt when forced to turn to drink to soothe myself so I didn’t set my world on fire, even knowing what it would do to me.
And then, in one moment, I shoved it all out through my hands.
The guard holding me shrieked and dropped me as my hair exploded into black flames.
It didn’t last long as the cuff on my wrist glowed bright red and burned into already-dead flesh, sucking my magick into itself as the fire disappeared and my hair returned to normal.
Drained and exhausted, I couldn’t dodge or defend myself as a hand sailed through the air toward my face.
WHAM.
Something wet dripped down my face, which was far more irritating than the pain. He hit like my younger sister had. Besides, the pain from my charred wrist was far greater.
“Get in line. Move.”
The guards frog-marched me into line, and my legs automatically kept pace with the other prisoners, and in distress, I was forced to leave Eve behind. I craned my head around, seeing her leaning up against the bars of her cell, fingers wrapped around the bars.
What did it mean that we were leaving her behind?
It didn’t take long before I had my answer.
We marched straight through the yard and under another archway on the far side that had been closed yesterday. Through it was a low ceiling but a space big enough to fit five long tables with benches. Other prisoners peeled off to designated benches and seats. Staying with my line, I soon found myself seated across from Strumo, and next to a purple-skinned female fae on my right. The last seat on my left was empty.
